Ah! It's The Best Birthday!
by Angeladex
Summary: Shohei Yoshida had spent the last ten years or so convincing himself that the weird, white-haired girl from his childhood had actually been a figment of his imagination. Until he sees her in the music store. Written for the 100fandomhell challenge. Critiques and feedback adored! Rated K plus. All the cute. And fluff.


Title: Ah! It's The Best Birthday!

Author: Ayaia of the Moon

Fandom: Ah! My Goddess

Wordcount: 825

Taunt: My fandom will grant you a wish. But you only get one.

-o-

He eventually thought her a dream—the exotic, brash girl with whom he'd fallen in love as a boy. What kind of a name was 'Urd' anyway? She'd surely been the product of his adolescent imagination.

He thought this well after ending grammar school, and into his third year of University; thought this even as he met and casually dated some of the coeds, never more than once or twice with one girl; never serious.

Because they accepted him for who he was. And it wasn't enough for him: he needed _her_. Though she wasn't real, she had changed him for the better. Seen things in him beyond what he saw in himself.

The day Shohei Yoshida turned twenty-three, he still thought this, walking home from a party. (Not drunk. He never drank; had never cared for alcohol.) And as he was thinking this again, he saw her.

As striking as she was, she didn't actually catch his eye at first. He'd stopped looking for her long ago. But there she was, casually perusing the music store, wearing a rather low-cut shirt with short pants and sneakers. She looked up at him and waved, beckoning him in. Like she wasn't surprised at all to see him; like they'd been bosom buddies for the last decade when he'd been trying to convince himself that she had been a fictitious imagining.

"Urd?"

"Shohei Yoshida. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent group here? What is this 'One Direction' tween phenomenon, anyway? Must be an American thing."

This had been like their first conversation, too. Like she'd been picking up where they left off, only they hadn't left off anywhere.

"You've grown into a handsome young man, Shohei."

"You…you're just like I remember."

"I could have fallen in love with you, you know. You were the sweetest kid."

"I didn't know if you were even real…"

"The good things are real, Shohei. Usually. Even when they're a lie."

"Like how you were your own sister?"

"I wasn't ready to relive my childhood for you. But I have kept an eye on you." She turned to look at him, then, smiling in a soft way that he felt she probably didn't do often.

She walked up to him, and he didn't blink. She seemed real enough, but you never knew…

"You've done well for yourself. Fine University, good marks, a few friends. I'm glad you didn't become a partier. I would have. But that's not who you are."

"They…I…How are you here?"

She took his hands. "Come with me. I'll tell you everything you need to know. Do you still like to be up high?"

He gaped like a fish. Blinked. "Y-Yes. I…I became…I'm…Architecture."

She led him out of the store, down the street, and started climbing a flight of stairs. He paused, not climbing. Watching her climb.

"Don't look down, Shohei. That's the secret. Remember?" She turned, shooting him a mysterious, dazzling smile.

He followed her. Like he had then. Like he had been doing all his life. Following her, taking her advice, even when she wasn't actually there giving it to him.

The roof wasn't anywhere special. A random apartment building, in a random downtown district, overlooking a sea of similar apartment buildings. Ordinary.

"Look over there. That's the park where I met you. And there? That neighborhood went up in the place where we climbed those trees. Your gaming store? Sells porn, now. Just so you know. But the seedy liquor store that used to be around the corner from your school is an ice-cream parlor, now."

He looked, mesmerized, where she pointed. It was dark, and he shouldn't have been able to make out any of the places she was mentioning, but whether her descriptions seemed to illuminate them, or it was just his imagination, he _did_. He really did.

"These are the places I hold dear," she said fondly. It struck him again that this wasn't normal, for her. Fondness. Softness. They weren't part of her brash personality.

And yet they _were_. Because he knew that part of her. The part that praised and encouraged him when he was scared. The part that chastised him for not listening to her when she told him how brave he was. The part of her he realized, much later, he'd fallen in love with.

"Why now?" he found himself asking, wondering how she seemed to glow in the moonlight. If it was just her shocking white hair, or if she really was glowing. It wouldn't surprise him if she were.

"It's been a long time coming, Shohei Yoshida. Lots of years, in fact. But I put in a good word for you. And I've been granted approval to do something for you. Something I feel you deserve."

"It's not sake, right?"

She smiled. He chuckled nervously. He still couldn't believe this was actually happening.

"I have come to fulfil a wish of yours."

-o-

AUTHORS NOTE

It needed to happen.

That is all.

~Ayaia


End file.
